Dune Bud

“Now, this here is what we call a Dune Bud. Dune Buds are odd plants that appear only on this beach. If you water them, strange things will happen.”

—Noki, Super Mario Sunshine

A swollen Dune Bud, having been sprayed

Dune Buds are small plants found only on Gelato Beach in the game Super Mario Sunshine. Initially appearing as a tiny purple bud sticking out of the ground, the player can spray them with water from F.L.U.D.D. to cause them to grow up extremely rapidly and then turn orange before causing a specially-shaped sand dune to pop up on the beach for a few seconds. This can be used to the player's advantage, in order to acquire normally unreachable midair formations of Coins, destroy Cataquacks, or damage the giant green Wiggler boss during Episode 3. Instead of becoming raised up when sprayed with water, some Dune Buds form indented pits that hide items like Coins, Blue Coins, or even Shine Sprites.

There are a total of nine different Dune Bud shapes found on Gelato Beach. The location of each Dune Bud occasionally varies depending on the episode that the player visits the beach in, and in a few episodes, some Dune Buds are not present at all. The shape of each Dune Bud along with their various locations are listed below.

Dune Bud locations

Shape	Episode 1	Episode 2	Episode 3	Episode 4	Episode 5	Episode 6	Episode 7	Episode 8
Turtle	In front of the Sand Cabana	In front of the Sand Cabana	N/A	In front of the Sand Cabana	N/A	In front of the Sand Cabana	In front of the Sand Cabana	In front of the Sand Cabana
Pyramid	In front of the Sand Cabana	N/A	The middle of Gelato Beach	In front of the Sand Cabana	To the right of the Sand Cabana	N/A	N/A	In front of the Sand Cabana
Footprint	To the left of the Sand Cabana	To the left of the Sand Cabana	To the left of the Sand Cabana	To the left of the Sand Cabana	To the left of the Sand Cabana	To the left of the Sand Cabana. It's also blocked by a forcefield.	To the left of the Sand Cabana. It's also blocked by a forcefield.	To the left of the Sand Cabana. It's also blocked by a forcefield.
Swirl	The middle of Gelato Beach	N/A	In front of the Sand Cabana	The middle of Gelato Beach	The middle of Gelato Beach	N/A	The middle of Gelato Beach	The middle of Gelato Beach
The Sand Portal	Southwest end of Gelato Beach	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Igloo	In front of the Surf Cabana	N/A	Southwest end of Gelato Beach	Southwest end of Gelato Beach	In front of the Sand Cabana	N/A	To the left of the Sand Cabana	N/A
Star	In front of the Surf Cabana	N/A	In front of the Surf Cabana	In front of the Surf Cabana	In front of the Surf Cabana	N/A	In front of the Surf Cabana	In front of the Surf Cabana
Descending Staircase	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower
Ascending Staircase	N/A	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	Behind the Shine Tower	N/A	N/A	N/A	Behind the Shine Tower